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Dr Arthur Reid

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In 1914 there were not the medicines to treat patients that are available now. Through knowledge and science, antibiotics and other medicines are constantly being developed to treat disease and illness.

Tauranga Hospital’s Arthur Reid has witnessed huge changes in medicine and treatment over the five decades he worked here. He has seen a number of firsts in medical improvement such as the progress in radiology (CT and MRI scans), coronary and open heart surgery, organ and joint replacements and other revolutionary discoveries.

“I graduated in 1949. That was near the beginning of the antibiotic era with Penicillin and then Streptomycin being the first antibiotics made widely available. The results in overcoming bacterial diseases like pneumonia were miraculous. Unfortunately due to the emergence of bacterial resistance factors we are now loosing that miracle,” says Arthur.

Other advancements that Arthur has seen change the face of medicine include the use of nuclear medicine, advances with drugs and radiology in all forms of cancer, and new vaccines for disease prevention like polio, rubella, hepatitis and mumps.

“All these wonderful developments in treatments we now regard as routine and meet our ordinary everyday expectations. Whole groups of highly qualified specialists have been trained to meet these expectations and do so now with ‘routine’ success. We all enjoy extended health and happiness as a consequence,” says Arthur.

“It’s not our bodies but the bacteria that have changed. They’ve learnt a few tricks and we haven’t caught up with them yet. That’s the challenge for the next generation in medicine.”